BBC - iWonder - The Duke of Wellington: Forging the 'Iron Duke' The Duke of Wellington: Forging the 'Iron Duke' 1769 Share this on Twitter The 'last great Englishman' The legacy of the Duke of Wellington towers over British history. The hero of Waterloo, vanquisher of Napoleon – poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson hailed him as the 'last great Englishman'. Statues still adorn the streets of many British towns and cities while his name has become synonymous with one of Britain's most celebrated victories. So how did Arthur Wellesley become the 'Iron Duke' we remember today? 1769 Universal History Archive/Getty Images Wellington spent much of his childhood at Dangan Castle, Ireland. The future Duke of Wellington was born Arthur Wesley (later changed to Wellesley) around 1 May, third surviving son in an aristocratic Irish family. His father, Garret, was the first earl of Mornington while his mother, Anne, was the eldest daughter of Arthur Hill, first Viscount Dungannon. An unhappy, lonely boy, Wellington exhibited few of the talents that would come to make his name. Lazy and socially awkward, his early schooling was fragmented, his performance uninspired.

Only his violin playing showed any real promise. I vow to God I don't know what I shall do with my awkward son Arthur. Anne Wellesley, Countess of Mornington and Wellington's mother 1781 WAVE/Getty Images Eton College viewed from the river, painted in 1786. When Wellington was 12, his father died. That same year he started at Eton with his younger brother, Gerald. Anne, his mother, thought Wellington a slow, foolish child. His exploits at Eton did nothing to dispel that opinion. Frequently unsociable and occasionally aggressive, with little appetite for learning, Wellington was removed from school in 1784. His father's death in 1781 had hit the family's financial standing and another of Wellington's younger brothers, Henry, looked to be a more promising scholar. Wellington followed his mother to Brussels in 1785. Jobs for the boys Print Collector/Getty Images As Wellington was making his way in the army, the French Revolution came to a head, including the storming of the Bastille in 1789.

At his family's behest, a career in the military beckoned – few other suitable options existed for such an unpromising young aristocrat. Wellington studied fencing, horsemanship and maths, but remained typically uninterested. His brother’s wealth and influence secured him a number of commissions, first as junior officer in the 73rd Foot and then as aide-de-camp to the lord lieutenant of Ireland. As the French Revolution moved towards its climax, Wellington’s elevation continued, even taking a seat in the Irish parliament. By October 1792 he had held five commissions in six different regiments. Revolution and focus DeAgostini/Getty Images The execution of Louis XVI challenged the established social order not just in France but throughout Europe. Events in France sent shockwaves through Europe. On 21 January King Louis XVI was executed at the guillotine. France had declared her egalitarian principles to be universal. The very fabric of established social order was under threat and by February Britain and France were at war. Wellington had to grow up quickly. He marked his new-found focus by setting aside 'frivolous' things like his violin. In April he joined the 33rd Foot, soon becoming the regiment's commanding officer.

This was as far as his brother's influence could take him. He would now have to earn his promotions, on active service. Print Collector/Getty Images British troops attack the French during the Flanders Campaign. Wellington's opportunity came quickly. In 1794 the 33rd Foot was sent to the Netherlands and he fought the French for the first time. Though Wellington won plaudits for his role in the fighting, the Flanders Campaign as a whole was disastrous. By spring 1795 British forces had withdrawn, dejected and demoralised, and were evacuated from Hanover. The French had won, replacing the Dutch Republic with a client state. Wellington's first experience of war had come with the taste of defeat. Few of his fellow officers, he saw, had known how to command an army. I learnt what one ought not to do; and that is always something! Wellington, on his early military experiences, speaking in 1839 1796-1805 Epics/Getty Images Wellington defeats Indian leader Dhoondiah Waughat the Battle of Conaghull in India. Bad weather spared Wellington a dangerous trip to the West Indies.

Diversion to India, moreover, offered much greater career prospects. With him he brought several hundred books, including titles on military history. He was determined not to repeat the mistakes of other officers he had witnessed first-hand. After some early successes, Wellington was promoted to the rank of major general and in 1803 he claimed the first major victory of his career. Facing an enemy force much greater than the 7,000 at his disposal, he won a desperate battle at Assaye, a small village in western India. His name made, Wellington looked to home. I understood as much of military matters as I have ever done since or do now. Duke of Wellington on the experience he gained in India, reflecting in 1838 1806 Kitty Mary Evans Picture Library Wellington hadn't seen Kitty for more than a decade when he proposed to her again on his return to England. Back in England, Wellington was now a wealthy man and growing further in status – he became MP for Rye in April. That same month, he married. Wellington first proposed to Kitty Pakenham in 1793 but, young and in debt, was rejected by her family.

Though there had been little contact in the intervening decade, he proposed once more when he arrived back in England. When he met her again in November 1805, he harboured considerable doubts. She was not the woman he had met all that time before. Nonetheless, perhaps out of duty, he married her and the couple had two sons. The relationship was not a happy one. '40,000 Frenchmen in 40 minutes' Print Collector/Getty Images British forces under Wellington's command routed the French at the Battle of Salamanca. Wellington had been in overall command of British forces in the Iberian Peninsula since 1809. In January 1812 he led troops from Portugal into Spain. Early victories saw Wellington reach Salamanca in June but by July he was locked in stalemate with an evenly matched French force. On 22 July, his opportunity finally came. Over lunch an aide delivered the message Wellington had been waiting for: the French had over-extended. A quick glance through his telescope was enough. "Marmont", the French general, he said excitedly, "is lost".

In under an hour, his forces won a decisive victory and all Europe acknowledged Wellington’s military genius. By God! That will do! Reported exclamation of the Duke of Wellington on seeing the gap in the French lines at Salamanca 1814 Peterloo Culture Club/Getty Images Many were killed and hundreds injured when cavalry charged the protesters at St Peter's Fields in Manchester. Serving under Lord Liverpool, Wellington joined the Cabinet. Politics, he discovered, was every bit as fierce a battleground as those he had left. Liverpool's government was known for repressive policies. Legislation was passed to keep public order and take action against vagrants, including many discharged from war service after Waterloo. Crowds gathered in St Peter's Fields in Manchester on 19 August to demand parliamentary reform were charged by troops. Hundreds were injured and many killed. The refusal of Wellington and the political classes to countenance social and political reform put them out of step with the public. An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.

Duke of Wellington, after his first Cabinet meeting as prime minister, 1828 1829 Pistols at dawn Culture Club/Getty Images The Duke of the Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea duelled on Battersea Fields in March 1829. If Wellington thought MPs could be ordered into unity he quickly discovered he was mistaken. One of the most divisive issues of the day centred on Catholic emancipation. Catholics had been barred from holding public office since the 17th Century but by 1829 these restrictions threatened civil strife. Some Tories, who had championed Wellington's appointment, were aghast at his support for the Roman Catholic Relief Act. One, the Earl of Winchilsea, was particularly vitriolic in his criticism and on 23 March the duke and the earl fought a duel on Battersea Fields. Both survived. Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images Wellington was almost 90 years old when he eventually retired from public life. Wellington had remained active in government, as foreign secretary and, latterly, a minister without portfolio. Approaching his ninth decade, Wellington finally retired from public life in 1846.

Even then he retained his post as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, unable to step away completely from the public service to which he had devoted his life – servant of crown and country to the last. 1852 Death and state funeral Universal History Archive/Getty Images In death, the image of Wellington that people remembered was that of the war hero and conqueror of Napoleon. On 14 September Wellington succumbed to a stroke at his favourite home, Walmer Castle, in Kent. In death the duke's divisive political legacy was forgotten. Wellington was the hero of Waterloo once more. On 18 November, Britain said goodbye to a hero of a bygone age. The nation united in a display of grief more extravagant than anything seen before. More than 1.5 million lined the streets to pay their respects as Wellington's coffin was borne to St Paul's, where a further 10,000 dignitaries packed into the cathedral. Wellington may have been gone, but his reputation lived on.

The Duke of Wellington [ Victorian Web Home —> Political History —> Prime Ministers ] Three paintings of the Duke reproduced in The Illustrated News (1852) — left to right: Portraits by Pelligrini, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and Sir George Hayter. [Clock on thumbnails for larger images.] Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and one of England's greatest military leaders, served as Prime Minister from 22 January 1828 to 16 November 1830 and again from 17 November to 9 December 1834. The third son (the fourth child of six) born to Garrett Wesley , first Earl of Mornington and Anne Hill, the man later known as "the Iron Duke" was born in Dublin on 1 May 1769. The family was from the Anglo-Irish ascendancy and Wellington maintained links with his Irish family and friends throughout his life. He was educated at the Diocesan School at Trim in County Meath; between 1781 and 1784 he attended Eton and then was tutored privately by the Rev. Henry Michell in Brighton.

In 1785 he went to Brussels where he was again tutored privately. He had little interest in education and appeared to be uncomfortable with society life. In order to find something which "poor Arthur" could do, his parents purchased a commission as an ensign for him in the 73rd Regiment of Foot in May 1787; in December he became a Lieutenant in the 76th Foot and the following month he transferred to the 41st in Dublin. Later he moved to the 12th Light Dragoons. When he arrived in Dublin, he became aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and served in that post until March 1793. On 30 April 1790 Wellington was elected to the Irish parliament in Dublin as MP for Trim even though he was under age at the time. He continued to represent the constituency until 1797 when he left to go to India.

He also continued in the army, moving up in rank through the purchase system: 30 June 1791 Captain in the 58th Foot 30 April 1793 Major in the 33rd Foot September 1793 Lieutenant-Colonel May 1796 Colonel Wellington saw active service for the first time between June 1794 and April 1795 when his regiment was posted to the Netherlands in the early stages of the French Wars. His next experience of warfare was in India during the fourth Mysore War where he was involved in the fighting against Tippoo Sultan. The campaign culminated in the siege and fall of Seringapatam in May 1799; Wellington was appointed as Governor of Seringapatam by the Governor-General of India, Lord Mornington — who happened to be Wellington's eldest brother. In 1803, and by then a Major-General, Wellington fought in the second Mahratta War against Scindiah of Gwalior; his successful campaigns included victories at Assaye and Argaum. Wellington was created a Knight of the Bath for his work in India in September 1804.

He returned to England a year later and reported to Lord Castlereagh at the Foreign Office. There he met Admiral Lord Nelson who died six weeks later, on 21 October, at the Battle of Trafalgar. Wellington was appointed Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot in January 1806. April 1806 was a busy month for Arthur Wellesley: he was elected as MP for the borough of Rye on 1 April; on 10th he married Catherine Pakenham in Dublin. She was the daughter of Baron Longford, also one of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. In 1791, Wellington was in debt and Lord Longford refused to allow him to marry Kitty; it seems that Wellington felt obliged to keep his promise to marry her even though he found her very trying. Kitty was over-emotional, self-critical, and easily depressed. She was incompetent as a housekeeper and continually found herself in debt, which infuriated Wellington, whom she hero-worshipped. She was described by contemporaries as unaffected and simple-minded.

Kitty died on 24 April 1831, but the couple had been estranged for a long time prior to that. On 22 April Wellington made his maiden speech in the House of Commons, defending his brother's Indian policies. In 1807 Wellington found himself elected as MP for Mitchell in Cornwall, Newport on the Isle of Wight and for Tralee in County Kerry. He chose Newport. Concurrently he was appointed as Chief Secretary for Ireland by the Duke of Portland and worked with Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond who was the Lord-Lieutenant. Like Wellington, Richmond served in the British army from 1787. By October 1807 the Peninsular Campaign was under way after the French declared war on Portugal, Britain's oldest trading partner. The French occupied Spain in May 1808, which led to a Spanish and Portuguese revolt. A British expeditionary force under the temporary command of Wellington was sent to Iberia on 1 August by Lord Grenville 's ministry; in its first campaign the British defeated the French at the Battle of Rolica and at Vimeiro.

Unfortunately, the new commander, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Burrard insisted that the Convention of Cintra was signed: it gave very favourable terms to the French. Wellington was blamed for the Convention although he was cleared of responsibility by a military enquiry in Britain whence he returned in October 1808. Sir John Moore was left in command of the army in the Peninsular. In January 1809, Moore led his troops in retreat to Corunna but was killed in the subsequent battle. Wellington resigned as Chief Secretary for Ireland and resumed command of the army in Iberia. From then until 1815, Wellington was occupied with leading the British army in the defeat of the French. He was created Earl of Wellington in February 1812 at Spencer Perceval 's recommendation; eight months later, at the start of Lord Liverpool 's ministry, he was elevated to a Marquisate and in May 1814 he was given a Dukedom; he took his seat in the House of Lords in June.

Parliament gave him several grants of money in recognition of his achievements in the French Wars including a £15,000 annuity in 1814 and £200,000 in 1815 to buy an estate: he purchased Stratfield Saye in Hampshire.. He also received £60,000 in prize money after the Battle of Waterloo but returned £40,000 of this to the Treasury. The Duke of Wellington bought Stratfield Saye in 1817, using the money voted to him by parliament for 'services rendered' in the defeat of Napoleon. Wellington's comment after the Battle of Waterloo was, 'Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won'. Although he was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, he did not return to active military life but became a politician and 'elder statesman'.

He was important as a diplomat in the years following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1814 and then after Waterloo in June 1815: August 1814 Wellington took up residence in Paris as Ambassador to France April-March 1815 he was Britain's representative at the Congress of Vienna July-November 1815 (after Waterloo) he was commander of the army of occupation in France; he was Britain's delegate to the Congress of Aix la Chapelle October-November 1822 he was Britain's delegate to the Congress of Verona February-May 1826 Wellington was sent to Russia to try to avert a Russo-Turkish war over Greece. Czar Nicholas I had succeeded to the throne in 1825 and was very much an 'unknown quantity' at this point On 22 January 1827 Wellington accepted the post of Commander-in-Chief of the British army but resigned when Canning became PM in April. He was reappointed by Goderich in August 1827 and then became PM in his own right on 22 January 1828.

When it was realised that he was still Commander-in-Chief there was a public outcry and he was forced to resign that position. Wellington's Tory government was defeated in the House of Commons when MPs voted in favour of repealing the Test and Corporation Acts. In February 1828 Wellington decided to pass the legislation himself, a measure in diametric opposition to traditional Tory 'Crown, Church and Constitution' policies. The next month Wellington's President of the Board of Trade introduced legislation for a sliding scale on corn duties which was passed without amendment. Huskisson refused to vote with the government and resigned, precipitating the County Clare election that led ultimately to the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act on 13 April 1829. However, before the legislation passed, the Duke fought a duel with Lord Winchilsea over the issue of Catholic Emancipation: both men deloped and honour was deemed to be satisfied. Wellington also took the opportunity of Huskisson's resignation to remove all the other Canningites who were in his Cabinet. "Number 1, London": Apsley House, the London home of the Duke of Wellington.

He had steel shutters fitted to the windows because they were cheaper than replacing the glass each time a mob broke them. [Click on thumbnail for larger image.] Following the death of George IV, the new king William IV kept Wellington as his PM; however, the campaign for parliamentary reform was gathering strength and was advocated by the Whigs in both Houses of Parliament. On 2 November, Earl Grey demanded to know whether Wellington intended to introduce any reform measure. Wellington's speech in response to Grey's question caused such a furore that he was obliged to resign on 16 November; Earl Grey formed the first Whig ministry since 1783 and brought in the so-called Great Reform Bill in 1832. After Grey's resignation in July 1834, a ministry that lasted only four months was formed by Lord Melbourne . When he resigned, the king asked Wellington to form a ministry. The Duke declined but suggested that the post should be offered to Sir Robert Peel who was in Italy. Wellington became acting PM until Peel's return, remaining in the Cabinet as Foreign Minister in Peel's first ministry.

When Peel resigned in April 1835, Wellington found himself out of office; he led the Tory opposition in the House of Lords until the start of Peel's second ministry in September 1841, at which point he became a Cabinet Minister without Portfolio until Peel's next resignation in June 1846. Three illustrations from The Illustrated London News's series on Wellington's funeral — left to right: Lying in State at Chelsea Hospital; the Funeral Procession; and The Duke of Wellington's Funeral Car. [Click on thumbnails for larger images.] Once he was out of office, Wellington was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the army, a post that he held until his death, which took place suddenly at Walmer Castle on 14 September 1852. He lay in state there until 10 November and then in Chelsea Hospital until 17 November. He was given a state funeral and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral . He was 83 years old. Related Materials Battle of Waterloo: Was it just an unpopular adventure led by an establishment hate figure? | The Independent History Battle of Waterloo: Was it just an unpopular adventure led by an establishment hate figure?

The Iron Duke's war against the poor contributed to both the Peterloo massacre and, ultimately, his own undoing, says Colin Brown Tuesday 16 June 2015 06:00 BST Click to follow Indy Lifestyle Online War lords: emperor and duke confront each other in London's National Portrait Gallery, but for Wellington (right) the real foe was reform AFP/Getty The Battle of Waterloo will be celebrated with a national memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral to mark its bicentenary on Thursday – and while descendants of those who fought there will be among the VIP guests, they have been warned that it will not be "triumphalist". Nonetheless, it has to be said, the Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon and the Bonapartists at a little ridge near the hamlet of Mont St Jean, 11 miles south of Brussels, was so complete that "Waterloo" has become synonymous with a crushing defeat. But, it must also be added, that is not how it looked in the spring of 1815. Radical MPs such as Sam Whitbread, son of the brewer, were appalled at the prospect of Britain being dragged into another costly war against Napoleon.

The Commons were just as divided as during the debates before the Iraq war in 2003. Whitbread and other Radical MPs accused Wellington of going to war for regime change – just as the anti-war MPs accused Tony Blair over Saddam Hussein. In a parliamentary exchange from 28 April, Whitbread said: "For the first time in the history of the world, war is being proclaimed against one man for the demolition of his power. [But] what is his power? His people: and the conclusion therefore is inevitable, that hostilities are to be renewed for the desperate and bloody enterprise of destroying a whole nation." Britons had been enjoying the months of peace that followed Napoleon's abdication in 1814. For the first time in years, they were able to travel to the Continent without the fear of being locked up as spies. And among such tourists was the Radical MP Thomas Creevey, who went with his ailing wife to Brussels to enjoy the Continental air, the boulevards and balls, and walks in the central park. In early April, like characters in the Thackeray novel Vanity Fair , they were overcome by the preparations for a war nobody wanted.

Waterloo (Getty) Creevey received a letter from a fellow Radical MP, Henry Grey Bennet, bringing him up to date with the latest Westminster gossip: "Prinny [the Prince Regent] of course is for war. As for the Cabinet, Liverpool [the Prime Minister] and Lord Sidmouth [Home Secretary] are for peace; they say the Chancellor is not so violent the other way. But Bathurst [Secretary of State for War] and Castlereagh [Foreign Secretary] are red hot…" Even Wellington's brother Richard Wellesley, a former Cabinet minister, shared the view of the anti-war faction at Westminster. He warned his brother, and the Prime Minister – though he never made it public – that the idea Bonaparte did not have public support in France was a "fallacy". But there was another reason why Wellesley thought a fresh war was a bad idea: Britain was broke. Fighting wars against the French for the best part of a generation had come at a crippling cost. Pitt had introduced income tax as a novel way of paying for the war, but debt had mounted.

By 1816, it had soared to 230 per cent of GDP (compared to around 80 per cent today). At home, there was commotion in the streets. The Regency period – the so-called Age of Elegance – was also the era of riots. There were riots against the industrialisation that was forcing people from the farms to the factories; there were protests for Parliamentary seats for the new industrialised towns in the Midlands and the north of England; and there were bread riots. In March 1815, soldiers were called out to protect MPs in the Commons from a mob protesting against a bill – the so-called Corn Law – which put up the price of bread for the poor to protect the profits of the rich from cheap imports flooding in as a result of the peace. The farmers who gained from this naked piece of protectionism included the landed gentry, the same small elite who held seats in the House of Lords, controlled seats in the Commons – "pocket boroughs" – and ran the country before most people got the vote.

Three months before the battle of Waterloo, on 12 March, 1815, Lady Melbourne, sitting in her mini-palace, Melbourne House (now Dover House, the Scotland Office) on Horseguards Parade, Whitehall, wrote to her niece Annabella, Lady Byron, about the mob outside her windows: "It was necessary to have ye assistance of the Military and about a dozen of the Horse Guards galloped at the people and dispersed them..." Read more Lady Melbourne, one of the fading beauties of Georgian society, added: "Today it rains hard which will probably prevent their assembling in great Numbers and the Town is full of Military so I conclude the Ministers think themselves tolerably safe – they were very much frightened and not without reason for this Mob seems to be extremely savage and much more in earnest than I ever remember… A loaf of Bread, Steeped in Blood and tied up in black Crape was thrown into Carlton House Garden [home of the Prince Regent]…" She was hinting at the fears stalking Liverpool, Wellington and the ruling class: that Britain was facing a revolution, such as the one triggered in France 25 years before, by women seeking relief from hunger by marching on Versailles for bread.

Seeing soldiers on the streets around the Palace of Westminster, some Radical MPs protested they were being subjected to martial law. Their protests – over this, the Corn Laws and indeed the forthcoming campaign against Napoleon – went unheeded. In Brussels, Creevey met the Duke of Wellington strolling in the park and asked him whether he and the Prussians under Blucher could beat Bonaparte, later recording their conversation in his journal: "He stopt and said in the most natural manner – 'By God! I think Blucher and myself can do the thing'... Then, seeing a private soldier of one of our infantry regiments enter the park, gaping about at the statues and images – 'There,' he said, pointing at the soldier, 'it all depends upon that article whether we do the business or not. Give me enough of it, and I am sure'." Peterloo (Getty) That "article", the anonymous figure in a red coat, was the common soldier, who Wellington had angrily called "the scum of the Earth" in an 1813 letter to Lord Bathurst, when his men went on the rampage after routing the French in northern Spain.

Wellington's defenders claim he was merely speaking in anger but I think it went further than that: the aloof, snobbish, patrician Duke really believed in the natural order of things: the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate. And while he was proved right about the battle – though he told Creevey the day after that it was "the nearest run thing" – his contempt for his "articles" would one day undo him. Wellington's "common" soldiers returned to Britain to find a country in disorder, almost at war with itself; and as I discovered while researching my new book on the Waterloo "scum", many of them would be its casualties. It turned out that nearly all the men hailed at the time as heroes would end their lives forgotten and in poverty. Men such as Corporal Francis Stiles, who claimed he captured the Eagle and colours of the French 105th Regiment and died in obscurity in Clerkenwell. Or Irishman James Graham of the Coldstream Guards, who was hailed as "the bravest man in Britain" for helping to close the north gate at Hougoumont farm – a turning point in the battle – and rescuing his brother from the burning barn.

(Graham wrote to the Chelsea Hospital Commissioners when he was 50, applying for an increase to the 9d – or roughly £2.50 in today's money – that he received as a daily pension.) In part, they were the victim of global forces. As economic depression spread across most of Europe after Napoleon's defeat, Britain suffered a farming slump, caused by a surge in cheap imports. Meanwhile, domestic crop failures – blamed on the eruption of the Tambora volcano, which spewed dust into the atmosphere and blotted out the sun – meant that wheat yields fell by 31 per cent, and incomes plummeted. And there was worse. Demand for cloth fell, as soldiers and sailors discharged from the Army and the Royal Navy joined thousands of unemployed cotton workers – displaced by the new looms, which could do the work of 700 men – all looking in vain for work. Weavers who once earned 15 shillings saw their wages cut to five. And many families – including Jeremy Paxman's ancestor Thomas Paxman – split up as they were shipped by canal to northern towns, such as Bradford, to work in the textile mills. Distress led to rioting in normally sleepy rural towns such as Ely.

But Parliament then increased the pressure on the poor by abolishing income tax on the wealthy and prescribing austerity for the rest. After the defence budget was slashed by 75 per cent and the Army cut from 233,000 to 92,000, thousands of former "Waterloo Men" were forced to get poor relief or beg for a living. One Rifleman Harris saw "thousands of [ex-]soldiers lining the streets and lounging about the different public houses with every description of wound and casualty incident on modern warfare". Presiding over it all was the bloated Prince Regent, who was as much reviled as the newly-restored Bourbon monarchy in France. In the same year as Waterloo, "Prinny" commissioned John Nash to turn his beach house in Brighton into a fantasy Moghul palace – the Royal Pavilion – and refurbish Carlton House at vast expense.

The Government was so alarmed that Lord Liverpool, Lord Castlereagh and the Chancellor Nicholas Vansittart wrote to the spendthrift prince, warning him to rein in his spending as the only means of "weathering the impending storm…" The storm they feared broke in Manchester on 16 August 1819 when an estimated 60,000 men, women and children crowded onto St Peter's Field (now the site of the Radisson Hotel) to hear a powerful public speaker Henry "Orator" Hunt – the Tony Benn of his day – call for representation in Parliament for the burgeoning industrialised towns of the Midlands and the North, who had no MPs in the Commons to speak up for their people. And among the crowd was one Waterloo Man – John Lees – whose story can stand for many. Lees had enlisted in 1812, aged 14, as a Royal Artillery Driver after giving up a job as a cotton spinner in his father's mill in Oldham, Lancashire.

(Exactly why he gave up work in his father's mill to enlist is unclear but, like many "scum of the earth", you had to be running from something – a pregnant girlfriend, a jail sentence, poverty – to join the Army.) He was posted to Major Robert Bull's Royal Horse Artillery 1 Troop, and on the muster roll was described as 5ft 4in tall, with a "fresh" complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. Bull's troop were equipped with five-and-a-half-inch Howitzers and John Lees drove the cart full of powder and shells to supply the gunners on the battlefield at Waterloo in the thick of the fighting. Some time after returning to Britain, he was discharged from the army, and returned to Oldham for Christmas in 1818. His father Robert gave him back a job at his mill, but on 16 August 1819, John defied his father by walking to Manchester to hear Henry Hunt. The masters of the mills like Robert Lees saw Hunt as the enemy, and there had been a long history of social unrest in Oldham, a Radical town.

In the eyes of the mill owners, the crowds converging on Manchester were dangerous associates of the frame breakers, the followers of "Ned Ludd" who had tried to wreck their businesses by burning down their mills. Among the poor, however, there was a carnival atmosphere, with bands playing, banners waving and marchers singing as they entered the square in Manchester. The local magistrates, overlooking the ground from the windows of a nearby house, panicked when they saw the size of the crowd, read the Riot Act and ordered Hunt to be arrested by special constables. Militia on horseback – including local publicans, some of whom were drunk – backed by the 15th Dragoons, who had fought at Waterloo, drew their sabres. In the ensuing mêlée, 650 were injured in 20 minutes and at least 15 were killed; 187 men and 31 women were slashed by swords, and at least as many trampled or beaten by the horsemen or special constables. They caught John Lees as he cowered under the speaker's platform.

He was "sabred" and slashed across the right elbow down to the bone when he tried to protect himself from their blows. Then he was battered by the special constables with their truncheons. Three weeks later, he died from his injuries. The inquest heard his back was black and blue, and "much blood gushed from the mouth and nostrils" when his body was moved. Towards the end of the shameful day which did for him, a volunteer constable was heard gloating to the crowd: "This is Waterloo for you." Within a week, the Radical Manchester Observer ran the headline 'The Peter Loo Massacre'. The Government should have opted for reform. Instead, they chose repression, introducing the "Six Acts" to clamp down on freedom of speech. And Wellington's worst fears were realised a year later, when the "Cato Street conspiracy" was uncovered. A revolutionary firebrand, Arthur Thistlewood, plotted to assassinate the Cabinet at dinner, Wellington among them – at a private house in Grosvenor Square, but his gang included a Government spy and they were arrested.

On 1 May 1820, the ring-leaders were publicly hanged and then beheaded outside Newgate prison for treason. The Duke used his authority as the man who had vanquished Napoleon to resist change, but over the next decade, the violence increased. Bristol was set on fire and occupied by rioters for three days after the Lords rejected the Reform Bill in 1831. Mobs smashed the windows of the Duke's London residence, Apsley House, while his wife Kitty was on her deathbed. Wellington resorted to metal shutters, and was ridiculed as the "Iron Duke". In 1828, when Wellington became Prime Minister, he rode to Downing Street on his war horse, Copenhagen, to show the smack of firm government. After his first Cabinet, he complained: "I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them!" The ultimate military man, the Iron Duke saw politics as a battle and stood implacably against reform. But he was forced to resign when the tide of change became unstoppable – and in the end, the 1832 Reform Act was Wellington's Waterloo.

Colin Brown is the author of 'The Scum of the Earth – What Happened to the Real British Heroes of Waterloo?' (The History Press, £20) History of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington - GOV.UK GOV.UK Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Tory 1834 to 1834, 1828 to 1830 Born 1 May 1769, Dublin, Ireland Died 14 September 1852, Walmer Castle, Kent Dates in office 1834 to 1834, 1828 to 1830 Political party Roman Catholic Relief Act: removed many of the restrictions on Roman Catholicism in the UK. Interesting facts He is famous for his major role in the Napoleonic wars. Wellington boots are named after him. After his first Cabinet meeting as PM: “An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.” Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington is today more famous as a soldier than as a politician.

In fact, as the Prime Minister, he was known for his measures to repress reform, and his popularity sank a little during his time in office. The Duke of Wellington was born in Dublin to the Earl and Countess of Mornington. Fatherless at an early age, and neglected by his mother, he was a reserved, withdrawn child. He failed to shine at Eton, and instead attended private classes in Brussels, followed by a military school in Angers. Ironically, the young duke had no desire for a military career. Instead he wished to pursue his love of music. Following his mother’s wishes, however, he joined a Highland regiment. He fought at Flanders in 1794, and directed the campaign in India in 1796, where his elder brother was Governor General. Knighted for his efforts, he returned to England in 1805. In 1806 he was elected Member of Parliament for Rye, and within a year he was appointed Chief Secretary of Ireland by the Duke of Portland . He continued with his military career despite his parliamentary duties, fighting campaigns in Portugal and France, and being made commander of the British Army in the Peninsular War.

He was given the title Duke of Wellington in 1814, and went on to command his most celebrated campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars, with final victory at Waterloo in 1815. When he returned to Britain he was treated as a hero, formally honoured, and presented with both an estate in Hampshire and a fortune of £400,000. After the Battle of Waterloo, he became Commander in Chief of the army in occupied France until November 1818. He then returned to England and Parliament, and joined Lord Liverpool ’s government in 1819 as Master General of the Ordnance. He undertook a number of diplomatic visits overseas, including a trip to Russia. In 1828, after twice being overlooked in favour of Canning and Goderich , the Duke of Wellington was finally invited by King George IV to form his own government and set about forming his Cabinet. As Prime Minister, he was very conservative; known for his measures to repress reform, his popularity sank a little during his time in office. Yet one of his first achievements was overseeing Catholic emancipation in 1829, the granting of almost full civil rights to Catholics in the United Kingdom.

Feelings ran very high on the issue. The duke persuaded the King only by his threat of resignation. Lord Winchilsea, an opponent of the bill, claimed that by granting freedoms to Catholics Wellington “treacherously plotted the destruction of the Protestant constitution”. As a result, he and Winchilsea fought a duel in Battersea Park in March 1829. They deliberately missed each other in firing, and honour was satisfied. The duke had a much less enlightened position on parliamentary reform. He defended rule by the elite and refused to expand the political franchise. His fear of mob rule was enhanced by the riots and sabotage that followed rising rural unemployment. His opposition to reform caused his popularity to plummet to such an extent that crowds gathered to throw missiles at his London home. The government was defeated in the Commons, and the duke resigned, to be replaced by Earl Grey . He continued to fight reform in opposition, though he finally consented to the Great Reform Bill in 1832. Two years later he refused a second invitation to form a government, and instead joined Sir Peel ’s ministry as Foreign Secretary. He later became Leader of the House of Lords, and upon Sir Peel’s resignation in 1846, retired from politics.

In 1848 he organised a military force to protect London against possible Chartist violence at the large meeting at Kennington Common. ‘The Iron Duke’ died in September 1852 after a series of seizures. After lying in state in London, he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. The Wellington Arch still stands in London’s Hyde Park. He also gave his name to the humble Wellington boot. Help us improve GOV.UK

Question: Who was Prime Minister at time of the Battle of Waterloo?
Answer: LORD LIVERPOOL